Nebraska’s most politically diverse House district is in the national spotlight this year as Democrats look to regain control of the so-called “blue dot.”
Democrats see the retirement of five-term Republican Rep. Don Bacon as a key opportunity to flip a seat as Republicans fight to keep the increasingly Democratic-leaning 2nd Congressional District under GOP control. As of early September, most election prediction models rate the district as leaning Democratic.
Bacon carved out a lane for himself as a moderate, and has publicly sparred with President Donald Trump on issues like tariffs and support for Ukraine. He routinely outperformed Trump in the district and consistently fought off close Democratic challenges.
Democrats have made gains in the district in recent years. Though Trump narrowly carried the 2nd District in 2016, the district’s single electoral vote went to Joe Biden in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024. Republicans still outnumber Democrats in the latest voter registration numbers – 158,684 Republicans to 144,194 Democrats – but there are an additional 108,764 registered nonpartisan voters in the district.
Here are the candidates vying to represent the 2nd District.
Republican Brinker Harding wants to work ‘for everyone’
Born and raised in Omaha, Harding worked in various roles – including chief of staff – in the administration of former Omaha Mayor Hal Daub, a Republican who held the office from 1995 to 2001. Harding was also the campaign manager of Daub’s 2009 mayoral campaign. Outside of politics, Harding works as a commercial real estate agent with Colliers International.
Harding’s career in city politics began in 2013, when he was appointed to the Omaha Planning Board. He later served as the chairman of that board before joining the Omaha City Council in 2017. He was reelected to the council in 2021 and 2025, and was chosen to serve as vice president by his fellow councilmembers last year.
“When Don Bacon started making some indications that he wasn’t going to run again, I thought it was time to take that next step and take my professional experiences, both in the public and private sector, and put those to good use for the community that’s given me so much,” Harding said of his decision to run.
Though Harding is campaigning on a similar bipartisan message to Bacon, Trump gave Harding his “complete and total endorsement” in April. Asked about aligning himself with Trump in a moderate district, Harding said people “know who I am… and know that I am very approachable, very reasonable.”
“It’s an incredibly diverse district,” Harding said. “In my campaigns for City Council and in this current campaign, I talk a lot about results for everyone in the district: Republicans, Democrats, nonpartisans. I’ve always maintained the same message in my campaign that I’m going to be working for everyone.”
Harding said his campaign priorities focus on two key topics: affordability and accountability. The accountability portion of Harding’s campaign is largely focused on reforms to Congress itself, like banning congressional stock trading, enacting term limits and pausing pay for members of Congress during a government shutdown.
On immigration, Harding is supportive of increased accountability measures, like body cameras and clearly marked uniforms, for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
He also supports streamlining the process for immigrants to enter the country legally. But Harding does not believe that there should be a pathway to citizenship for people who entered the country illegally.
“They are jumping the line when they’re illegally entering the country,” he said. “I don’t think that they should have a path for citizenship.”
The affordability of everyday goods and healthcare is a major issue for Nebraskans and Americans. Harding said reducing the inflation rate is a necessary step toward lowering costs, but creating “an environment for the economy to flourish” through wage growth is key.
“If wages aren’t outpacing inflation, then you get further and further behind every day,” Harding said. “That’s a big focus of mine – how are we going to have a strong economy and growing wages?”
Harding mentioned the most favored nation pricing for prescription drugs as an example of a policy that can help lower costs for consumers. Though some medical manufacturers have voluntarily bought into the program, Harding would like to see it expand.
“Use the example of a little asthma inhaler – it’s something along the lines of over $290 in the United States, and in Germany, it’s something like $9,” Harding said. “The United States does not need to be subsidizing foreign countries for our prescriptions and medical devices.”
Harding is generally supportive of the current war in Iran, and of continuing military and economic support to Israel.
“We need to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon,” he said. “Iran continues to be the number one sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, as well as across the globe – that is something that needs to be addressed, too. I think making those investments and supporting our allies is the correct thing to do, so that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, and they don’t try to hold the world hostage by closing the Strait of Hormuz.”
Democrat Denise Powell addresses affordability, Medicaid
Powell was born in Florida and later moved to New York and Los Angeles, where she worked in communications and marketing at multiple agencies and companies. Her husband’s job brought the couple to Omaha about 17 years ago.
“We decided to move here without knowing anybody or much about Nebraska, but I always tell people it was the best decision that we ever made,” Powell said. “We just fell in love with Nebraska the minute we backed up our U-Haul into our first house that we bought together. We adopted our first dog here, we had both our kids here, and just immediately fell into this incredible community.”
After Trump was first elected in 2016, Powell said she channeled her frustration into action by co-founding Women Who Run, a political action committee dedicated to recruiting and supporting women running for office across Nebraska. She has also worked as a consultant for multiple state and national PACs, according to her personal financial disclosures.
Still, Powell said, she didn’t see herself becoming a candidate for office. It was Tony Vargas, a Democrat who ran for Congress in 2022 and 2024, who first tried to convince her to run. She wasn’t immediately sold, and said she spent a lot of time talking to other potential candidates, community members and her family.
Powell said a major concern for most voters is affordability and rising costs, from everyday goods like groceries and gas to healthcare and housing. But she said not everything can be addressed with a quick fix.
“The reality is, in some of these cases, it’s going to take time, because we have dug ourselves into a hole as a country – this administration has dug us into a hole,” she said.
One key to lower costs is for Congress to “get a handle on” Trump’s approach to tariffs, including his recent decision to implement a 50% tariff on many Canadian imports, Powell said. She also said increasing wages to keep up with inflation is crucial.
Powell supports reinstating the enhanced tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, which expired in January and greatly increased the amount many people pay in health insurance premiums. She wants to “reverse the Medicaid cuts” included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, which reduced federal spending on the program. Some of the most significant changes in the federal funding structure won’t take effect until 2027 or 2028.
“I think we need to look at what’s coming down the pipeline, because we haven’t even seen the worst of these Medicaid cuts,” Powell said.
Immigration is an issue close to Powell’s heart – her father is an immigrant from Chile, her mother from Cuba. She said the current immigration policy in the U.S. is “very short-sighted.” There should be “some clear pathways to residency, to citizenship” for people who have positively contributed to the U.S. for long periods of time, she said.
“Everybody wants a secure border,” Powell said. “Even immigrant families want to be safe in the streets. But this administration has really closed down just about every pathway to entering this country legally, and made it very, very difficult for folks who want to come here and contribute to society and do all of the right things.”
On foreign policy, Powell said the U.S. needs to find a way to extricate itself from the war in Iran and increase diplomatic engagement in the region. She said the U.S. needs to see concessions on Iran’s ownership of nuclear materials, with inspection from outside agencies – but said coming to that compromise may be difficult given the damage done during the yearlong conflict.
“At this point, I’m genuinely worried about what any of that looks like because I think we have created so much damage in the region,” Powell said. “I think we are alienating allies that could be helpful in some of these negotiations. It’s really, really problematic.”
Libertarian Eric Foreman vows transparency, body cam proof
Eric Michael Foreman, a Libertarian who works in property management, said he’s heard frustrations from constituents of both parties who are unhappy with their elected officials.
“My opponents are both products of the two-party system that got us here: our growing debt, our rising costs, and Congress that just seems to rubber stamp whatever president is wearing their jersey,” Foreman said. “Both sides seem to always want to grow the government, grow bigger departments with the guise of reduction, but we never see it.”
The lifelong Nebraskan said he stands for individual liberty, limited government, fiscal responsibility, strong borders, Second Amendment rights and peace instead of foreign entanglements. He said he sees the Libertarian party “offering something different” to voters “fed up” with the traditional two-party system.
“I don’t believe that people who are registered Democrat or registered Republican see representation as they used to, maybe even 10 years ago,” Foreman said. “We are so much more similar than we are divided, and I think if we get around that division that both parties are trying to instill in us, and just talk to each other, we’re going to find we’re all on common ground.”
To him, one of the biggest issues of the CD2 race is the cost of living. He would like to see less money “sent overseas” and called on Congress to rein in executive branch spending on border control and the Iran war while prosecuting federal financial fraud.
Foreman aims to introduce laws and regulations meant to protect children from child abuse, exploitation and trafficking. That includes mandatory minimum sentences.
He also wants to expand a law passed in Georgia called Ridge’s Law. It gives Georgia parents accused of child abuse the right to a second medical opinion and ensures courts consider independent evaluations.
“Families were separated for months because of a medical condition that was treated as abuse, and no one would allow a second look,” Foreman said. “We do not want to let the state become the threat.”
On immigration, Foreman said he “applauds” those who have immigrated legally. He said he wants to welcome immigrants who go through legal avenues and processes to enter the country. He’s heard from constituents who seek “heavy-handed methods” and others who “lean toward compassion.”
“You’re all welcome. Come on through,” Foreman said. “What I don’t want is people jumping that fence or skirting our laws and trying to hide from authorities, and voting in our elections trying to influence our government and policies. These are things that I’m against.”
Foreman said if elected he would work to be as transparent as possible, including regularly wearing a body camera and providing a vlog on his day-to-day activities. No matter the outcome, he encourages all Omaha residents to vote.
“There’s a big faction within our district that is dissatisfied from both their sides, both their parties,” Foreman said. “Some are, you know, refusing to even vote at all. Some are refusing to even participate, which upsets me because I think voting is the least amount of effort we can do in our own self-governance.”
Important election dates and reminders
Nebraska’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Most county election offices begin sending early voting ballots in September.
Voters can cast their ballots early, in person at their respective county election office starting Monday, Oct. 5. Voting in person at county election offices will end Monday, Nov. 2. All early voting ballots are due back to county election offices by the close of polls on election day. Ballots received after the polls close will not be accepted.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Central Time on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. Voters can locate their polling place online at Nebraska’s VoterCheck system. There, voters can also verify that their voter registration information is up to date and preview their ballot once those are finalized by county election offices.
There are two voting registration deadlines ahead of the general election. Friday, Oct. 16 is the final day Nebraskans can update their voter registration information or register to vote online, by mail, at the DMV, via personal agent or via deputy registrar. Friday, Oct. 23 is the final day Nebraskans can update their voter registration or register to vote in person at their respective county election offices.
Read Nebraska Public Media News’ election-related coverage on our Campaign Connection page.